Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale 

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It’s thrilling to be able, at last, to announce the imminent publication of what is surely the ultimate guide to Procol Harum and Gary Brooker (see illustration, right): all the shows, recordings, broadcasts, travels and personnel associated with GB’s many bands between 1960 and 2022.

Author Frans Steensma is a rock journalist and encyclopaedist from Amsterdam, respected in his industry and, crucially, by the innermost circle of Procol Harum themselves.

All Gary’s known professional performances and collaborations – with various bands, and as a solo star – are catalogued here in chronological order with details of location, other artists on the bill, and much more. The log of studio sessions specifies what was recorded/broadcast, and when.

As if this were not enough, this ‘Day-by-Day’ account contains at least five hundred illustrations, many not seen in print before, including numerous contributions from the albums of Franky Brooker, who has also penned the illuminating, poignant and forthright 1,800-word preface (excerpts below).

Nowhere else will you find band-members’ birth-certificates, postcards sent and received by The Commander, demo-disc scans, personal early-days memorabilia, posters, handbills, autographs, wedding snaps, contracts, fascinating bills and receipts, the fruits of a lifetime’s well-informed collecting. One illustration shows the band themselves visiting Frans Steensma’s unrivalled Procol museum during a European tour.

This limited-edition, scholarly hardback book measures 210mm x 290mm, and comprises 296 pages, comprehensively-indexed, in full colour. The text is in English.

Next week BtP will be in Amsterdam, where 'Day by Day' is about to be published. As soon as we know the weight, we’ll be ready to let fans know the final price and postage costs from the Netherlands to various territories in the world … watch this space, and you’ll be able to order the perfect Procoholic present in good time for Christimas.

Potential UK buyers please note!

To spare fellow fans from paying overseas postage costs, Roland from ‘Beyond the Pale’ will be bringing home to England a consignment of books that can then be posted relatively cheaply to UK destinations.

To give him an idea how many books to bring, likely customers should send a message to ‘Beyond the Pale’ now, stating how many copies they’re going to want. No obligation! We just need a ballpark figure. Note that, if you don’t respond to this suggestion, you will end up paying overseas postage rates if you subsequently order.

Your message will be something like this: ‘My name’s [xxxxxx yyyyyy] and I’ll probably order [number] of Frans’s book, to be posted to my address in [UK town]’.

All how-to-order-and-pay details will be added to this page soon after 5 November, but the fab UK cheaper postage offer closes on 2 November.

By sending your name in now you’re NOT committing to buying anything. You’re simply helping us load approximately the right quantity of books into the BtP van. If the volume of reserved books exceeds the space in the vehicle, a first-come first-served principle will operate, as you’d expect.

Write us a note ... webmaster@procolharum.com ... we look forward to hearing from you!